World-Class Caribou Hunts In Alaska

Published: May - 2002

One of the more interesting frontiers in world hunting right now is that chain of islands that juts outward from Alaska into the northern Pacific, separating that body of water from the storm-tossed Bering Sea. We have already told you about outfitter Wayne Long's Aleutian Adventure Reindeer Hunt on Umnak Island near Dutch Harbor. The first hunts on that island are scheduled to take place this fall, and, as this is written, there are still some openings.

What we haven't told you about are the world-class caribou hunts guide/outfitter Tim Booch is gearing up to provide on the island of Adak this fall, which is even farther out on the Aleutian chain that Umnak. Adak, in fact, is roughly 1,300 miles southwest of Anchorage. That's about as far as it is from Anchorage to Seattle, Washington.

The island is so far out there Booch has arranged to charter a Lear jet to transport the two groups of six hunters he is looking for this fall from Anchorage to Adak Island and back. The flight will still take 2½ hours. It will also add $1,500 to the cost of the hunt, bringing the total to $7,500. That's for a five-day hunt, one bull only.

What makes this hunt worthy of attention is the quality of the caribou available. It's not widely known, but Booch hosted four hunters on Adak in 1999 and two in 2000, taking a total of six bulls, three of which field-scored above the Boone & Crockett minimum of 400 points. One of the bulls scored just over 438 points typical in spite of having only one shovel. The animal won Booch the "Best Trophy" award this past year from the Alaska Professional Hunters Association. Booch does not want to say there is a possible new No. 1 Boone & Crockett bull on Adak, but he did tell The Hunting Report that his guides found a pick-up in 2000 that was unofficially scored by three different people at 476 points. That would put it just one point shy of........(continued)